Business Travel; Journeywoman is a World Wide Web site with a lot of appeal for women on the go.

By Joe Sharkey

Published: August 4, 1999

''MY children used to tease me,'' Evelyn Hannon said the other day from her office in Toronto. '' 'Digitally deficient,' they called me. Well, not anymore, ha-ha-ha.''

To see why she allows herself this little chuckle, call up her Web site, www.journeywoman.com. A lot of women are now traveling alone -- for business, pleasure and, increasingly, a combination of the two. And while some airlines and a few other corporate services have put up Web sites to appeal to female travelers, Ms. Hannon is way out front with Journeywoman, a Web site and electronic magazine that went on line two years ago and now is able to attract major advertisers.

The Internet is clogged with commercial hype and bald-faced hucksterism. But one of its sturdier glories is that a determined low-budget entrepreneur like Ms. Hannon can emerge as a significant force by taking a singularly good idea and applying intelligence, diligence and focus to make it work. As an exercise in comparison, peruse Journeywoman, and then call up one of the few other on-line sites for female travelers. Not to pick on Delta Air Lines, which at least is making an effort in the field, but compare Journeywoman.com to Delta's Executive Woman's Travel Network site at www.delta-air.com/womenexecs. Not even a close call, right?

About 250,000 travelers from the United States, Canada and many other nations have visited Journeywoman since it went on line. They are attracted to its clear organization and no-nonsense female-centered travel tips, consumer news, feature articles and even classified ads. Enough of them are regular visitors that the Indigo Books chain in Canada, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, a bank, a couple of national tourist boards and an insurance company are among its advertisers.

Feature articles in the current issue include one on how to deal with medical problems while traveling abroad. Another has the headline: ''Ms. Biz: Her Culturally Correct Food Facts.''

There is a related Web site, www.HERmail.net, that allows female travelers to seek advice one-on-one from other women in Ms. Hannon's worldwide network of correspondents. ''For example, someone might write, 'I'm going to Tokyo and I have three business meetings, but I'm really not sure what's appropriate to wear.' '' Ms. Hannon said. ''Well, one of our businesswomen in Japan will reply with the correct information.''

Ms. Hannon, 59, has been traveling extensively since she was divorced in the early 1980's. ''I'd come home and have notebooks filled with tidbits of information from women I met while traveling, including the growing numbers of businesswomen,'' she recalled. She also collected names, addresses and phone numbers that over the years helped her to build a network of hundreds of women who traveled frequently.

''When I began, I wasn't thinking about making money at all. Women are networkers, and that's what I was doing,'' she said. After a while, she thought about organizing her network better. ''I sent letters to about 100 women I had met around the world and asked them to send me their best travel tips and travel stories. I also asked them to forward my letter to other women travelers they knew. I kind of collected this stuff, thinking maybe it would be a book someday. But within a month, I was inundated with responses.''

In 1994, she put out a printed newsletter, Journeywoman, with the hope that it might become profitable someday. The first issue had 20 pages -- no color -- and was mailed to 2,000 women. Within a year, it had a circulation of 6,000 and was losing more money with each issue.

''I was getting requests for subscriptions from places like Hong Kong and Paris,'' she said. ''I wasn't making any money. In fact, it was costing me a fortune for postage.''

So, though she had no computer skills, she decided to take Journeywoman on line. ''I thought, why not just take a chance and step into the abyss. No one else was doing it, and I thought it just might work,'' she said.

It is profitable already. ''As soon as advertisers began seeing that this was actually a juicy niche market, they came on,'' Ms. Hannon said, adding: ''The basic idea just came from a female thing. Women love to network with each other, and it was a matter of harnessing that energy for travelers.''

Side Trips

Frequent travelers who forget to check for hidden charges in car-rental agreements can find annoying surprises at the return counter. On Monday, at the Tampa, Fla., airport, a bill presented after returning a car to the Avis Rent a Car counter included a 10 percent surcharge for a ''concession recovery fee,'' as well as a surcharge of $2.05 a day for something listed as ''battery/tire'' and another 35 cents a day for ''vehicle license fee recovery.''

Repeated attempts to call the Avis customer-service ''800'' number listed on the bill for an explanation of these charges proved fruitless because the line was always busy. Imagine, though, a restaurant that tacked a surcharge onto your bill to help the proprietors recover their expenses for paying rent and buying pots and pans.